Equipment Printing School Mage

Its steps were already staggering for unknown reasons, and now it leaped high, drawing a gorgeous arc in the air, covering a distance of nearly ten meters in one breath, and landed heavily on the ground in front of it.

The Phantom Horse wasn't a real creature, merely obeying its rider's commands, so it couldn't react to unexpected situations. Emiya and the others' senses were already strained at high speeds, so they were naturally slow to react.

Then the two phantom horses rushed straight into the bushes.

——And then, nothing happened.

Half of the Phantom Horse's body was swallowed by the bushes. It slowly slowed down and leisurely circled in a half circle without being affected in the middle.

Eswhite drove the Phantom Horse to the side, jumped off the horse with a frown, took the axe from behind, and smashed it down hard.

The weak feeling in his hand made the old priest's face darken. "...Ms. Druid, why is there such a large swamp here?"

And Emilia was even more unceremoniously ready to cast a spell: "Miss Fenwei, please give us a reasonable explanation."

If Emilia's Phantom Horse cannot move forward on the swamp, there will be chaos.

If an ordinary person jumped into the swamp unexpectedly, God knows what would happen.

“…Huh? Huh???”

However, the person who was most surprised at this moment was Fenwei himself.

Her head whipped around in all directions. "That's impossible! I followed this path to the Hollow Corner! I've carefully explored every possible terrain!"

"There must have been no swamp here before!"

Emilia said coldly, "That's not a very clever lie... A swamp wouldn't form in such a short time."

"Because this isn't a lie! Lies can be covered up, but how can the truth be proven?" Fenwei's feathers stood up, the whole bird becoming unusually fluffy. "I have no reason to harm you! Besides, how could a mere swamp possibly be of any use to the three of you? Even if I wanted to trick you, I wouldn't use such a cheap trap!"

"Then you have to give an explanation too."

"Explain...explain..." She shook her head several times on Emilia's shoulder and finally gave an answer, "...If you want a possibility, it's probably the Holy Forest."

"Our sacred forest is growing—and during this period, it may have various impacts on the entire forest. A colleague said that he stumbled upon unusual changes occurring in the forest while patrolling. Perhaps this swamp is one of them?"

As soon as she finished speaking, as if to prove her statement, a spring suddenly rose in the middle of the swamp.

——Or rather, it was as if a flood was erupting from the ground.

The surging water pressure uprooted the surrounding bushes and rushed them directly into the air. Even the nearby small trees began to shake in the waves, but eventually they groaned and slowly collapsed one by one.

The group immediately realized that something was wrong and galloped towards the outside on their horses.

However, the horses' hooves landed with a soft, almost powerless feel. The Phantom Horse was unaffected, but the Paladin's Sky Horse suffered—every time it landed, its hooves sank deeply into the ground.

In the end, the Silver Ship was forced to use all its strength, almost lifting up the entire piece of mud when it raised its hooves, and the grass and mud flew everywhere when it ran, and it finally caught up with the Phantom Horse's pace with great difficulty.

And behind them, the water is chasing them.

Within just a few minutes, the flood that came from nowhere began to slowly swallow the surrounding vegetation like a giant beast, and the water level began to rise at a speed visible to the naked eye.

When the pursuit finally ended and they had time to catch their breath, the scene behind them made them almost speechless.

Large tracts of forest collapsed.

The dense treetops were swallowed by the water, sinking deeper and deeper under the influence of gravity. The moonlight, which had been completely blocked, poured down freely.

An almost endless lake appeared behind them almost out of nowhere, embracing the moon in the sky.

Eswhite looked at the scene before him and shook his head gravely. "Now I believe this isn't the work of a druid. To create such a flood, I'm afraid a ninth-level spell would be needed."

And Fenwei was obviously not that powerful.

Emiya was silent for a moment, then said to the Snowy Owl on her shoulder, "Your Sacred Forest seems to be unusually restless during adolescence."

Fenwe opened his beak and could only say, "...I can't give a reason. In my education, the birth of the Sacred Forest would bring changes to the forest, but it would never cause such earth-shaking changes."

"...I'm beginning to regret that I shouldn't have brought you to the Sacred Forest."

Twenty Stars Sacred Forest (Part 2) Battle Royale

In the dense sea of ​​forests, the night breeze blew gently, creating ripples on the turbid lake water.

This should have been a very pleasant sight, but it was like a raging storm in everyone's heart.

Not long ago, this place was just a large swamp, but in the blink of an eye, it turned into a vast lake.

The tall trees that originally occupied this land have collapsed and gradually sunk to the bottom of the lake. The last traces left in the world are the gurgling bubbles on the lake surface and the vague shadows of the lake bottom.

Is it that underground water has surged to the surface, or is it that a large area of ​​land has collapsed downwards?

But no matter which possibility it is, it is a horrific disaster - if this were not a forest, it might have caused shocking casualties.

Mars looked at the lake, which was still bubbling with bubbles, thought for a moment, and turned to the only druid present. "Ms. Fenwei, this excuse for shirking responsibility is truly unconvincing. Under these circumstances, it would be too risky for us to head to the Sacred Forest."

He silently pointed at the vast lake that had appeared from nothing. "Even if one wanted to deliberately create such a large lake, it would take several hours of spellcasting. Nine-ring or even stronger spells are miracles that often only exist in legends."

"You mean to say now that this happened by chance?"

"It is true that a druid's sacred grove possesses extraordinary power. However, that power is often limited to the area within the sacred grove. If the sacred grove begins to affect an entire forest, then, with all due respect, that is no longer the business of your guild alone."

Mars concluded his speech with a resounding warning: "I personally do not care about the actions of a particular druid circle, but please be responsible for your actions."

"I know, I know... let me think about it..." Fenwei had now transformed back into human form and was pacing around. The smile on her face had disappeared, and her hands were unconsciously clasped together.

As for Emilia herself, she was more inclined to use this accident to put pressure on Fenwe.

Visiting the woods and confirming that the druids were reliable neighbors—this was originally just their apparent purpose.

Their ultimate goal is to successfully gain the trust of the druids - at least, to make most druids aware of and acknowledge the existence of shadow druids.

This wasn't easy—the Shadow Druids were elusive, and the Sharptooth Forest Druid Circle was newly established, making the situation even more treacherous and unpredictable.

In such a short time, the shadow druids had no time to connect with each other, let alone build trust.

The only possibility is that these shadow druids knew each other before the establishment of the Sharptooth Forest. And for some purpose, they did not hesitate to leave their original branches and try to cultivate a sacred forest from scratch.

Korhal is an archdruid of at least eighth level.

Although Faerun was a land of hidden talents, an eighth-ringed spellcaster was already a very powerful one. In a guild of only ten or so, it was almost impossible for a ninth-ringed druid to be stronger than Korhal.

These nine-ring druids are almost certainly the highest leaders of a certain ring. They have no reason to abandon their years of accumulation and come to a forest to open up new land from scratch.

It's better to say the opposite - the druids came to open up the woodlands, perhaps because they encountered an insurmountable bottleneck on their original path to advancement and were forced to try another way.

But this also means that K'ha is likely to be one of the strongest druids in the circle.

So, what they have to do is to gather enough forces to pose a threat to Khar outside of his sight.

To do this, they must have sufficient say among the druids.

Fenwei's age was unknown, but she was at least a sixth-ring druid. While her strength wasn't enough to make her the continent's top performer, it was certainly a pillar of strength.

and so……

Emilia coughed lightly and said, "Miss Fenwei? We have noticed that you are willing to visit the Hollow Corner and that you are friendly and gentle."

"I understand that druids pursue escapism, but this matter is still too bizarre. If possible, we should at least be mentally prepared, right?"

Fenwei frowned, looked at the two young men with a wary look, and began to think in his mind.

Although Eswhite is older, he was obviously born and raised here. He may be good at dealing with family matters, but he is not very familiar with druids.

—but the two young harpists were another matter entirely.

The Harpers are a widespread organization, but most of their members are often civilians with little power.

Therefore, young and promising harpists all have a bright future.

Thinking of this, Fenwei finally made up his mind and said to the bear priest, "Let's put the two harpists aside... Mr. Eswhite, you should understand one thing - there are many things that you can't ignore once they enter your ears."

The pastor was stunned for a moment, then stroked his messy beard and said, "Although I'm not the kind of person who likes to get into trouble, I'm not interested in sticking my head in a beehive... I can't pretend to be deaf that way."

"You druids are stirring up trouble right on our doorstep. It's too late to say this now."

"Well then," Fenwei sighed, "let's talk as we walk. The Sacred Forest isn't far away."

"And the part you want to hear, in short - the atmosphere within the Ring Association is very tense right now."

As soon as these words were spoken, strange expressions appeared on the faces of the three people.

It was one thing for them to know something about what was happening within the druids, but it was another thing entirely for the druids within their ranks to be willing to tell them.

The latter proved that the matter had become so serious that it could no longer be covered up.

Even though they knew in advance that there were many crises within the Huanhui, they still felt frightened.

Mars was even more blunt: "...The atmosphere in the Circle is very tense? Your Circle must have been established not long ago. The Harpers even just learned of your existence."

"By druid standards, this guild is barely established. Are the conflicts within such a new organization already so serious that they have to be disclosed to outsiders?"

After just a few words, Fenwei's face turned red and his eyebrows almost reached the sky.

Although Emilia and Mars had planned to play the good cop and the bad cop respectively... but now Emilia began to suspect that this paladin had been acting in his true colors all along.

Seeing that the druid was about to lose his temper, Emiya quickly stepped in to smooth things over: "We just want to know what level of crisis we will face so that we can be mentally prepared for it."

"At least let us know what the Society might need from us."

Fenwei closed his eyes, took a few deep breaths, and finally calmed down.

She simply stopped looking at Mars's face and turned to Emilia and continued:

"We suspect a Shadow Druid has appeared within the guild. As a result, everyone in the guild is feeling threatened. Everyone is striving for all available resources and is being asked to prove that their actions are inconsistent with the Shadow Druid."

Emiya frowned.

Information about druids was rarely circulated. Even though there were druids among the Harpers, the information he received from them did not include an introduction to the inner workings of the druids.

It's not so much that the Harpers can't get it, but rather that they are unwilling to let similar information circulate even within the Harpers.

He decided to start with an indirect question: "Shadow Druids? How many are there?"

Fenwei's answer was straightforward: "If we knew, we wouldn't have to worry so much."

"Then how did you confirm the existence of Shadow Druids?"

Fenwei was silent for a moment, his lips trembling involuntarily: "...Trand Spirit Cloak."

"On a new moon night, a cloak made from the peeled skin of a dryad was sacrificed by a shadow druid in the center of the sacred grove to bless its growth."

The tree spirits in this world are a kind of elf-like creatures—

To make an analogy, it's like someone placed a human skin cloak in the center of the church altar.

Fenwë's hands still trembled slightly at the thought. "Not a single druid received any warning about the invasion of the Sacred Forest. This means the desecrators are from within the Circle."

Emiya shook her head. "If I remember correctly, druids should also have rules. A druid who does something like this should lose his power."

"That's the most terrifying thing," Fenwë replied. "No druid has lost his power, and no druid is absent. The only possibility is that the prisoner has somehow circumvented the commandments."

"It was a blatant provocation, but there was nothing we could do about it."

"Ultimately, we can only choose to prove ourselves."

"Contributing to the cultivation of the sacred forest while seeking help from nearby secular forces... is naturally the best way to prove that I'm not a shadow druid."

Shadow Druids are the most radical branch of Druids. Asking them to seek help from secular forces would probably be worse than killing them.

Emilia and Mars looked at each other.

So, those shadow druids went to Friendly Arms for that reason.

Cooperate with the Gods and Non-Gods to seize an important stronghold on the north-south transportation route and let the shapeshifter take over.

The Gods, Not Gods, would likely have a more disguised shell that would facilitate their secular existence. Consequently, Shadow Druids would gain the approval of the Arm of Friendship and the Gods, Not Gods, while still maintaining their beliefs.

Moreover, they can take this opportunity to move freely and openly.

As for the destruction of the tree spirits... perhaps it would be done by gods or non-gods.

Eswhite suddenly understood and crossed his arms, "Ahaha, so our Hollow Corner is your lifeline. I was wondering why your attitude was so wrong, it turns out you're trying to save your own skin."

Fenwë was forced to reveal the truth, and she felt a little embarrassed for a moment, but she quickly changed the subject: "But I didn't lie to you—the Druids' Sacred Grove is rarely this friendly."

"No matter how much a druid normally dislikes outsiders, they will restrain themselves at this time. If they show radical behavior, they may be suspected of being a member of the Shadow Druids."

In other words, an extremely dangerous battle royale is taking place in the Druid Circle at this moment.

Emiya couldn't help but feel a little stomachache at this moment.

In this situation, it is meaningless to identify the Shadow Druid - this kind of thing may happen every day in the guild.

At this moment, a long voice interrupted their conversation.